The invention relates in general to horological instruments and in particular to a new and useful clock with a mechanical drive for the going train, in particular a striking clock, where the going train controls one or more striking works which are driven mechanically.
By clocks must be understood in connection with the invention those timepieces which are larger than quartz alarm clocks, have a mechanical going train driven either by weight or by spring, and which is customarily controlled by an escapement governor with a gravity pendulum or a spring pendulum (balance). Depending on the type of case, this may be a wall, floor, or table clock, while in small clocks, e.g. alarm clocks, table clocks and wall clocks without striking mechanism but equipped with an analog, i.e. conventional hand indicator device, quartz controlled stepping mechanisms are used predominantly.
Quartz controlled stepping mechanisms, which have long been produced in large quantities and therefore are available at low prices, have, however, not been used until now for clocks of this kind, in particular because of the drive torques required for the drive of the mechanical going trains and the control of mechanical striking mechanisms. The commercial quartz controlled stepping mechanisms laid out for small drive torques, and whose electromagnetic transducers consist as a rule of a battery operated step motor, are not suitable for large clocks because they are not able to drive the large wheelworks with their relatively high friction losses and to actuate the mechanical control levers of the striking works.